Senator Samuel Thompson

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Senator Sam Thompson (R-12) issued the following statement in response to the ruling issued by the New Jersey Supreme Court in the case of DePascale v. State of New Jersey:

“Today’s ruling is another example of a liberal Supreme Court that would rather rewrite our laws and constitution than read them for what they obviously say. Quite simply, salary is salary and benefits are benefits. Our constitution only protects the salaries of judges, and nothing else. It is obvious that some judges on our Supreme Court either don’t understand plain English or they just don’t care.

“The pension and benefit reforms that were approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor are meant to apply to all public employees. We cannot allow judges to treat themselves as a protected class of public employee that is immune from necessary reforms that apply to everyone else.

“If the Supreme Court insists on misusing our constitution to give judges a special privilege that was never intended, then we must act to approve a constitutional amendment that levels the playing field. While nobody likes larger deductions from their paychecks, it’s only fair that all public employees be required to contribute more for increasingly expensive benefits as is common in the private sector.”

Senator Thompson is the sponsor of SCR-33, a proposed constitutional amendment that would remove the provision prohibiting the diminishment of judicial salary during a Justice’s or Judge’s term of appointment.